Uri Blau

Uri Blau is an Israeli-born investigative journalist with over 20 years’ experience exploring political corruption, national security and transparency issues.His work appeared in Haaretz, BBC, Washington Post, AP, Harper’s Weekly, ProPublica, PBS, Mashable, The Nation, Mother Jones, Nieman Reports, and more. As a journalist, Blau focused on in-depth, often data-driven research projects. Blau is a member of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and was a member of the team that was granted Pulitzer Prize for the Panama Papers. In 2014, Blau was a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where he researched models for sustainable investigative platforms. In 2012, Blau became the first Israeli journalist ever to be charged and convicted for possession of classified information. That precedent was a result of a 2008 article published in Haaretz, exposing covert targeted assassinations of Palestinians in direct violation of Supreme Court rulings. The conviction caused Freedom House to drop Israel to ‘Partially Free’ status in its 2013 “Freedom of the Press Index.” He is currently based in Washington, D.C.